Gutierrez 1

Marissa Gutierrez
Nancy Roche
WRTG 1010-018
11 December 2014
Fear of Writing
I wouldnt say I hate writing but let me just say I do not like it. Maybe it is because I
dont really know how to do it and it is very uncomfortable for me to write any long letters,
emails, essays etc. The whole time I am writing I am thinking on how unprofessional it is and I
wonder if the reader will understand what I am trying to explain. I have always worked as a
guest services agent in hotels in Park City, and most of my writing has been work related.
I have always been very self conscious about my writing skills and I always try to get to the
point on what I need say in the shortest way possible. I always noticed how some of my
coworkers wrote emails that looked like letters and talking about other things not related to the
subject. In my case I only talked about the weather conditions and that is probably because it is a
very important fact since, most of the people I was dealing with were coming to Utah for the
skiing.
Now my writing is way simpler and that is another reason why I am so bad at it. My
family and I have our own housekeeping/management company in Park City and most of my
writing is for billing. I am in charge of making invoices for the owners and other management
companies we work with. I hardly ever get in contact with the owners or anybody.
When I moved to Utah from Mexico I was in 7th grade and all the writing I had ever done
was answering short answers on exams. I never had to do a long paper in Spanish, and I dont
know if I am as bad in Spanish as I am in English. Probably I am because I have never really

Gutierrez 2

practiced writing. The first time I wrote a long paper I was in 9th grade here in Utah. I believe it
was a self story that our English teacher had us do for a final. I do remember it took me a very
long time to do and I had no idea on how to even start writing it. It was very difficult to write
because my English back then was more limited. After 9th grade I didnt have to write another
essay, the reason is that I finished High School through home school and night school and
writing and essay was not required for me to get my high school diploma.
The next time I wrote or tried to write an essay it was a long time ago and I was taking a
history class at The University of Utah which I failed the class because I was nowhere prepared
to write a professional essay assignment. I realized I did not know how to write at all and that
made me dislike writing even more. I realized how complicated it was, definitely much more
complicated than writing emails.
Another reason why I feel so uncomfortable writing is because English is not my first
language, as I mentioned before, I moved to Utah from Mexico and even though I have been in
Utah for a very long time, I am not comfortable writing or talking in front of other native English
speakers.
I do realize how important it is to be able to write in a college level, not only for
assignments but also for our everyday lives. We are constantly writing in different ways. My
goal is to be able to write in a clean and organized way. Although, I do not plan to write any
books, I do want to feel comfortable when writing an essay or any school assignment. Also, I
know it will help me in many more areas of my personal life.